The torrent was titled as .mkv (normal and expected) but the actual file was .lnk (not normal)… so you would have had to open a weird random .lnk file to activate the trojan?
Unhiding extensions is one of the first things I do when setting up windows, but it will still hide the .lnk extension on shortcuts, so it’s still a vector for phishing attacks (specifically, tricking the user to do something that runs malicious code).
Experienced pirates will get into the habit of taking precautions against malware attacks and will distrust downloads until they are sufficiently vetted,
Operating a computer used to be a specialized skill, you used to have to look under the hood pretty often to make things work. Now all that prep work is taken care of for you, so end users are further away from the partial techs we all used to be.
Dropping into a DOS command line to install software was a normal thing in Windows 95, now if you pull up a command line people think you’re a Microsoft Certified Technowizard™.
I believe the torrent included both an .mkv and a malicious .lnk file.
.lnk files are dangerous because they can evade detection and automatically open other files or executable on a computer; AFAIK you would not have had to open the .lnk file yourself.
I wonder if an automated setup would play it without caring about the extension. If someone had something like Sonarr dropping episodes on a Plex drive, for example.
The torrent was titled as .mkv (normal and expected) but the actual file was .lnk (not normal)… so you would have had to open a weird random .lnk file to activate the trojan?
Windows hides extensions by default.
Unhiding extensions is one of the first things I do when setting up windows, but it will still hide the .lnk extension on shortcuts, so it’s still a vector for phishing attacks (specifically, tricking the user to do something that runs malicious code).
Experienced pirates will get into the habit of taking precautions against malware attacks and will distrust downloads until they are sufficiently vetted,
The comments from obvious teenagers on 1337x on pretty much every torrent suggests that a lot of people do this
Basic computer usage skill level does seem to be in decline, doesn’t it lol.
Operating a computer used to be a specialized skill, you used to have to look under the hood pretty often to make things work. Now all that prep work is taken care of for you, so end users are further away from the partial techs we all used to be.
Dropping into a DOS command line to install software was a normal thing in Windows 95, now if you pull up a command line people think you’re a Microsoft Certified Technowizard™.
I believe the torrent included both an .mkv and a malicious .lnk file.
.lnk files are dangerous because they can evade detection and automatically open other files or executable on a computer; AFAIK you would not have had to open the .lnk file yourself.
I wonder if an automated setup would play it without caring about the extension. If someone had something like Sonarr dropping episodes on a Plex drive, for example.